Three-dimensional imaging has become extremely popular. For example, as more and more home viewing occurs on large-screen high resolution televisions and other display devices, movie theaters have sought to differentiate the movie theater experience from home viewing by offering three-dimensional films. As is well known, such technology works by encoding stereoscopic images in different colors, and using special 3D glasses with color filters to present different (offset) images to the left and right eyes. Such 3D films can create remarkable viewing experiences to theater goers willing to wear special 3D glasses. However, while it is also possible to provide the same 3D viewing experience on home televisions and other home display devices through use of specially-encoded images and 3D viewing glasses, such technology has not yet caught on at least in part because many viewers don't want to always wear 3D glasses to watch television in their living rooms and dens.
Other ways are known for providing 3D viewing experiences without the need for special 3D glasses but instead by using specialized 3D display devices. For example, specialized stereoscopic lenticular displays are known that present different images to the left and right eyes thereby creating a 3D imaging effect. While such viewing systems have benefits and advantages, the cost of specialized displays for large sized images such as in a living room may be prohibitive and the technology might not work especially well on large screens. Some segments of the gaming community have become used to playing certain kinds of games (e.g., action-adventure, sports, etc.) on large LCD, plasma or other high-definition display screens. While it may eventually be possible to deploy large display screens especially adapted for 3D viewing in a cost-effective manner, there will likely always be legacy 2D display screens for which it would be useful to provide a 3D display experience without use of special glasses or other special display technology.
Much work has been done in the past in connection with tracking a viewer's position or viewpoint, and generating a responsive 3D display. For example, it is common in virtual realty or other similar systems to provide a so-called “heads-up” display that is responsive to the position and orientation of a user's head. In some such systems, a user wears a special helmet containing inertia measurement electronics. The helmet senses the direction the user is looking as well as the orientation of the user's head. In response, a computer generates an interactive image that reflects the user's current viewpoint. Such images so generated can provide a high degree of realism and interesting three-dimensional imaging effects. It would be desirable to provide similar 3D imaging using a home television and other home electronics within cost, usability and other constraints present in the average home.
The exemplary illustrative non-limiting technology herein enables 3D viewing on conventional 2D displays such as home television sets by tracking a person's viewpoint. Detecting a player's viewpoint movement to change the viewing of the displayed object gives the illusion that the object is physically present in three-dimensional space. Viewpoint movement detection can provide collision-related game logic benefits such as allowing a player to dodge projectiles, giving a game character an ability to “see” the player when not behind line-of-sight obstacles, and other advantages.
Some exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations enable physical presence on standard two-dimensional displays such as televisions through tracking a player's viewpoint using a relatively wide field of view (FOV) so that tracking does not stop prematurely when the player moves out of range Additionally, object placement is used to maximize parallax, which in turn enhances the effect(s) of physical presence.
In other illustrative non-limiting implementations, additional game play capabilities are enabled to e.g., moving the user's head and body to position the eye as a natural motion to seeing 3D objects. This allows participating game players to for example dodge game objects, and to permit virtual game characters to be “aware” of the human game player's location and/or presence.
In some illustrative non-limiting implementations, tracking a single point on or near the user is sufficient to enable such a dramatic effect. Tracking more points allows for additional capability, but even single point tracking provides significant and dramatic benefits.
Additional Example Non-Limiting Features and Advantages
Enable physical presence on standard 2 dimensional displays such as television through:                Tracking player's viewpoint        Wide FOV (tracking doesn't stop prematurely as compared to many or most prior solutions that have narrower angles <50 degrees FOV)        Object placement to maximize parallax. Parallax enhances effect of physical presence.        
Enable Additional Game Play Capability                Moving head+body to position the eye is a natural motion to see 3D objects        Dodge game objects        Game character is aware of player's location and presence        
Tracking Technology                head/eye tracking and matching 3D space modeling between virtual reality and real word geometry provides 3D viewing        even a single point is enough to enable this dramatic effect. More points allows for additional capability but single point benefit is the most significant and already dramatic.Some Non-Limiting Tracking OptionsCamera Based Tracking        
Marker on Head, Camera on TV
Visible Light Band Camera                Face Detection software determine location of the head and extrapolate the position of the eyes        To improve detection, increase signal-to-noise ratio by wearing a marker        
IR Camera                Infrared spectrum enhanced detect by ignoring all visible spectrum image.        Infrared emitter (IR LED) illuminate the scene with retroreflector markers.        IR emitter can be worn directly as markers providing high signal/noise ratio.        
Wide Field of View                Enable larger viewpoint tracking range and result in freedom of user motion. Typical image camera is <50 degrees FOV. It is desirable to achieve 110 degree horizontal and 70 degree vertical field of view.        
Number of Markers                1 point provides viewpoint movement along a spherical shell        2 markers provides position in 3D space of the viewpoint assuming eye is looking at the screen.        >=3 points provide position in 3D space of the viewpoint as well as eye viewing orientation.        1 point provides the greatest physical presence as player normally moves head side to side to view an object or scene to understand the spatial structure.        2 point adds the ability to move viewpoint closer or further from the display assuming the eye remain looking at the display (reasonable assumption)        3 points provide viewpoint orientation. Game can become aware of player's viewing direction (e.g. other game characters might say “hey look at me”)        
Wearable Mount                Hat        Headband        Glasses        Anything wearable on head or even other part of the body represents possible mounting opportunity        
Options                Camera on head, marker on TV        Multiple cameras to divide field of view        
Other Tracking Technologies                Magnetic        UltrasonicExample Usage        
Viewing:
The illusion of physical presence
Players natural movement as viewing input
Dodging
Game Character Awareness
E.g. Game character becoming aware when the player looks away
Physical Presence Visual Enhancement
These techniques maximize the 3D object's physical presence illusion:                View point change results in view frustum change        Objects modeled in real world coordinates and placed near the physical TV screen        Increase parallax—introduce near field and far field objects in view to maximize parallax motion        Enhance movement by scaling and offsets of marked points or marker placement        3D data can be modeled in real world space coordinates (e.g., a 3D character such as a football player can be 15″ tall placed near the plane of the display)        As user eye position moves, appropriately rotate and translate in 3D characters to match the proper viewing from new eye position        